For the most part, I’ve been laying low from racing and riding the bikes. I’m finally sorting out my right leg issues, since it’s still not as strong as my left and never was. I think I’ve pinpointed the muscle area that’s the cause, which is good. I’ve stopped riding because the tension on the muscle group pulls my right leg outwards as I pedal, and was wearing down the cartilage around my knee. I’ve been running during the week, and spending a lot of time with the muscle rollers at night. It’s a slow process, but things are starting to finally come together. Less muscle tension, less strain…hopefully with enough time and self massaging on the hip, things will be better than ever. I still have my 4 Cannondales. I’ve been out of touch with pro cycling for a couple months now, and have been loving it.

Not like it’s anything to brag about or even mention, but I’m on Instagram now if anyone wants to keep tabs on me. Back in the day, I used to have a Facebook and Twitter too, but that proved to be much more annoying and a lot less creative than square photos. Follow me, username: dominicsalbatera.

Scratch: 20 laps. This one got a bit hairy with 3 left to race (I think). Mario unclipped out of his pedal, accidentally, causing a bit of chaos on the wind up to the finish. I flicked the front of the bike into the apron, quickly looking back to see if anyone else was caught up in the field. With 1 guy off the front, and a handful of us chasing, now the race was getting interesting. I saw the rest of the field upright, Mario rode his bike off the track, safely. 3 of us were chasing down the guy off the front. I ended up placing 5th, or 6th at the end, which was pretty good considering how crazy it became near the end. Kept it rubber side down, as did everyone else, that’s a good day.

Snowball: 10 laps. I think there was a select group off the front. I didn’t really place.

Points: 25 laps, points every 5. Pretty much watched this one from the mid-field. Things started splintering off early on, but the pace was kept pretty low, so all the dropped riders were able to catch back up. Made a final push near the end, but wasn’t really positioned too well for the sprint, so I ended up near the front, but not far enough ahead to score points.

I was on the road by 4pm today, and made it down to the track at 5:40pm. Not too bad. Light traffic in the usual spots, but nothing crazy. Eating in the car is crucial to stay awake. 3 categories tonight: p/1/2/3, 3/4, and then the 4/5’s.

Scratch: 20 laps. I don’t really remember what happen here. I think I was dropped and tried to catch back on, and might’ve made contact with the main group. The field was pretty small tonight. Didn’t really place, I’m pretty sure the lap counter read zero when Mario and I still had 1 to go. We just dipped out.

Tempo: 10 laps. I went off the front as the whistle blew, but got nicked at the line. Not a surprise there, I guess. I trailed behind the main group for a bit, and then the race ended.

Points: 30 laps, sprints every 5. So as the sprints started ticking down, the front group started surging ahead. I didn’t really have legs to hang, so I just kept the pace steady, slowly catching back up the group as the laps went down. It took me a while to catch back onto their wheels, but it eventually happened. Then the sprints came, and I lost contact once more. At least I wasn’t completely dropped.

Not sure if I left with any points or not, but I was happy to get out of the office, and stoked to see familiar faces. Awesome velodrome night.

Took nearly 2 hours to get down to the track this afternoon. First, there was a police block down Jones. Then, I was snagged in random traffic the entire way down, when usually there’s not too much traffic at all. Still made it onto the concrete pad in the middle of the velodrome at 6:30pm though, which is still enough time to get warmed up. Not like riding around helped too much anyway. I’ve been easing back into the running, and have opted for stairs until my leg is fully healed. Definitely out of shape, but this week was even worse for some reason. Tonight, there were combined categories: 5, 3/4, and p/1/2. I threw on the shallow front wheel as to avoid getting tagged by the wind like last week.

Scratch: 10 laps. I forget the details, but I was dropped pretty early on, and just watched the sprint go down.

Tempo: 10 laps. Dropped again, not surprisingly. Not quite sure what happened for the rest of the race. I remember vaguely someone unclipping from their pedals.

Miss and Out: So this one was a bit better. I rode near the back and sprinted up the track between turn 3 and 4 to pass people from the top. It worked out pretty well, and soon, there was just Steve, 2 guys, and me, sitting in last. On that lap, I gave the sprint along the turn 1 last go, but was too far gone to even nudge ahead of the other riders. I think Steve won…?

Points: 35 laps, points every 5. A group of 4 guys split off early on, and it was just me, Alex, Steve, and some random junior kid chasing. Let me rephrase. Every time the kid was up for a pull, he went through about 5 meters before pulling off, up the ramp. It was pretty sad, to say the least. While all these half ass exchanges were happening, the main group was gaining distance around the track on us, and I was sure they’d lap us soon. Alex was chugging along, but too slowly for me and Steve, so I put in another pull, and they were dropped. Shortly thereafter, we were swooped up by the 4 guys at the head of the pack. Kind of held it together for a bit, until the final sprint came around. We were lapped anyway, so it doesn’t really matter.

Safe night of racing, safe drive back into the city. Not much else I could ask for.

I was on the road by 4pm, and surprisingly showed up at the velodrome in 1:40, besting my solo time by 5 minutes. What a win. Tonight there were 3 fields, juniors would ride with cat5’s. I wasn’t really expecting any decent placings tonight because my leg was still recovering from 2 weeks back. At least cycling is low impact, so I figured I needed a workout since I hadn’t done anything since last Wednesday (except for walking around a bunch, but that isn’t really aerobic).

Scratch: 15 laps. I was at the front for a couple laps and nearly swooped into the apron because of the wind. Might not have been the best choice running the fatty front wheel at the first event…Anyway, a couple laps ticked down, and everyone pretty much came over the top to pass me. One cat2 road guy almost took out my front wheel on the straight towards turn 1 because he thought he was clear to pass, but really wasn’t. Nearly gave me a heart attack, shoot. I ended up getting dropped from the pack somewhere near the end and watched Al get nipped at the line for 1st place by the kid that almost took out my wheel. Also, props to Tim for taking the Scratch in the P/1/2/3 field – sick attack in the final turn.

Snowball: 10 laps. Right off the bat, the tall guy went on to take the first 2 laps. I was pacing the group and was passed shortly thereafter. Josh lead the pack for a while before people started to split off the front in pursuit of points. I think the young kid went early, and swooped up all the points. Some of the juniors started jumping back into the pack as the laps ticked down, but it was kind of pointless, because we had to pass them about a second later because they were getting dropped. Hmm.

Points: 25 laps, points every 5. So this one was interesting. And by interesting, I mean I got dropped pretty fast, and spent the majority of the time chasing for wheels in the back of the remaining group. I forget all the important details, but the kid took all the points again, and made a bunch of us cringe with his inapt passing ability. As he was lapping all of us, I attempted to give him props and he kind of just rode it off, staying focused on winning. I guess that’s fine, except this is a cat5 field…? Not even the index finger off the drops to acknowledge the props? Darn, no one likes me. What am I doing wrong.

Made it back to the city in decent time. I’m just happy there were no accidents. And props for Marc for doing 90 laps of points racing. He did the 3/4’s and P/1/2/3’s. G status.